Authentic or not?

To be authentic, or not to be authentic. THAT is the question. The one thing that plagues the jersey collecting market are the fake ones. There's the authentic jerseys, then there's the "authentic" jerseys. These "authentic" jerseys are cheap quality knock offs that are usually sold online through eBay, Amazon etc or a website that sells these jerseys. They offer them at a wholesale or warehouse price and 95% of the time they ship from Asia. You really need to be careful when purchasing a jersey from those wholesale sites and online in general. As the old saying goes, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. For example, you can purchase an "authentic" Gretzky Oilers jersey that includes a fight strap and everything sewn on for around $20-$40. Free shipping or  a flat rate of around $15. Sounds great doesn't it? Of course it does! That's why people buy them. They are cheap and you can get 10 for what you would pay for 1 actual authentic jersey. I'm not gonna get into extreme details about how to spot a counterfeit jersey, the NHL and other pro leagues have pages on their websites about it.  If you have questions, check those out for sure. One dead giveaway is the colour. 99% of the time, the colours are off. They are either too light or too dark. The tie down is also a good indicator. It is sewn into the jersey in the centre on the back, not just some piece of loose fabric stitched on. As a serious collector, I hate seeing these jerseys on the market. It really irritates me when people try to pass these off as real items and sell them on eBay for $200 plus. Since the 2005 lockout, these jerseys have flooded the market. When people buy them they say "well the owners rich enough, besides I don't care looks fine to me". What they don't realize is that the jerseys are made in factories that don't have good working conditions and are almost always connected with organized crime. Think twice before purchasing one of these jerseys. I know what you're saying, do I own any knock offs? Yes I do. Purposely? Yes. Here's the story. A few years who I worked for a jersey outlet in the mall. One of my coworkers told me about a site that you can get wholesale jerseys from. Being a collector I thought I would check it out. Of course they have all sports teams from all major leagues. I was shocked they were only $35 with a flat shipping of $15 no matter how many you ordered. Of course red flags are going off as $35 for a pro jersey with the downs is too good to be true. However being curious I ordered a few. So 4 weeks later they arrive. As I opened the pack I instantly noticed the colour of the one was off. The letters were off and the fight strap was WAY off. Shame on me. I decided to wear it to work one day to see if they would notice. Thankfully they all did. Do I still own them? No. They are no longer in my collection. I do have 2 Gretzky jerseys that are fakes in my collection. No, I'm not a hypocrite. The first one is a Rangers white starter jersey. Anyone who is a serious collector knows that after Gretzky went to LA all the jerseys he wore from then on we're double tagged. What is that? The CCM/NHL Logos were embroidered on both the left and right bottom cuffs of the jerseys. He tucked the right side in and being the greatest player in the game, they didn't want the logo covered. When Nike supplied the Oilers with jerseys the logo was on the right. After the 82-83 season, it was on the left and remained there. In 1996 Wayne signed a deal with the Rangers. From the 96-97 season till he retired, Starter supplied the Rangers with jerseys. Until after the 05 lockout, each team had a contract with a supplier for jerseys. They weren't league wide contracts until early 2000's when CCM did whites and KOHO did darks for most. Now it's all RBK. Anyway, I was still pretty green to the jersey collecting world and happened to come across and auction for an authentic Wayne Gretzky Rangers jersey. Made by starter, size 52 (he wore 54) tie down and all names numbers sewn on. Double tagged! I thought Holy s#!t that's awesome. I think I paid $500 for it. I get it and I was so proud to own this jersey. once I got it, I opened it, tried it on, admired it then put it away in the collection. I never gave it another thought. Then a few months ago I was talking to another collector friend who said he went back through all his jerseys and found a few that were fakes....and he paid a pretty penny for them. Then I had this sickly feeling in my stomach. Oh f*^k, are any of mine fakes? Well to my sheer and utter disappointment, there were some. I do collect jerseys other then WG ones. I went through all my jerseys and found 2 non Gretzky ones were fakes. I was not happy. Then I went through my WG ones. I had another Rangers blue jersey that I bought at a retail sports card store. It was fake. I never in a million years thought my white Rangers would be a knock off. I almost didn't bother looking but I needed to be sure. Well...... It was a fake.  I was crushed. A $500 fake jersey that the person prob paid $40 for. However, this jersey was hard to tell. It was very well done. The numbers, materials were all good. The tie down threw me for a loop as it was seen into the jersey like it should be and in the middle between the 9's. How did I know it was fake?  The colour. They were too light. I was so mad at myself that I lost sleep for a few days. As I cooled down, I ended up getting a 96 CCM Rangers white Gretzky jersey they is not fake and got it for a decent price. I kept the Starter one. Paid $500 for it. What am I gonna do with it? No idea. Road hockey jersey maybe. The other one was an all star jersey I paid $100 and it was fake.

I apologize for the length of this post but it's been a few weeks since the last. Sorry. I'll give the eyes a break and continue this topic on my next one.

Have a good one Nd keep that stick on the ice!

Atrain